2190: Fighting for the Future
by Thortronian
Summary: This is a Mass Effect Fanfiction takes place after ME3 where the organics won at huge costs. Everything is explained in the story and just so you know the romance is Tali & Shepard. So hope you enjoy and please R&R  Read and Reply
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note- This is my very first Fan Fiction, actually I am making this off of a challenge my friend gave me. So let's get right to it!**_

This Fanfic takes place after the war with the Reaper's or as it will be referred to in the story by the "official" documents _The War of Galactic Liberation, _but it starts the day before. The war itself took 7 years and 4 months. After the citadel attack it took 3 years for the actual fighting to occur. When Shepard confronted the Council about evidence to UNDENALBY show Reaper existence, Alliances began to form unifying the Galaxy under one major force to oppose Reapers. The majority of these were just among Races joining Council completely, Most of Terminus didn't even prepare except for the Geth establishing official diplomatic ties and revealing their massive fleet. And now the Prologue, sorry it is kind of leaves things hanging, but Chapter one is almost done.

_April 24__th__, 2186_

"… Additionally C-Sec officers were deployed to the Presidium earlier this evening as protests against the newly formed United Galactic Federation intensified. Protesters claim that this is just another attempt by the Council to secure control over the population after wild rumors of Giant 'Space Monsters' swarmed over three years ago, C-Sec…"

"Huh, I go through hell, die, come back, _blow up_ the Collector home base, show them undeniable evidence of the Reaper's, communications we picked up from the Reaper's, and _still_ they drag their feet before doing _anything,_ 3 years Tali I have given them 3 years and all they have to show is a fancy title and a bunch of drafted punks who can't even shoot straight."

Tali looked at him, the war hardened veteran, covered in scars from his long service, and his grim face. She felt a familiar sorrow she couldn't do more to help him cope with it all. "John, please forget those vids, the Reaper's, and the council for now. Come back to bed and I'm sure we can find _something_ to preoccupy your mind"

The Commander just laughed at Tali's vain attempts at flirting, she had never been good at it, and with 3 years of experience she still hadn't gotten better. Still he knew that he always had someone to come back to, and was sure she'd do anything to make sure he made it back… maybe that's why Mordin didn't get off the base, he told Shepard he would rather a death in combat then a death alone, that had shocked him as Mordin was known for being cold and calculating with no room for emotion, the perfect Salarian.

John turned to look at Tali, her pale eyes yearning for him to join her and her dazzling white hair flowing down to the small of her back. He leaped onto the bed landing right next to her while she let out a squeal and took refuge under the sheets.

Shepard couldn't help but laugh at her as she came out glaring at him.

"You know _Shepard_, you make falling for you so difficult when you _fall_ on me." She said while she lightly ran her finger up his chest and leaned in to him, her skin rubbing against his ever so lightly, provoking him to grab her and pull her closer, their lips dangling next to each other longing for the kiss they were to share.

"Well Tali, I think I am doing a nice enough job, you don't seem to fight me doing this." He whispered as he leaned in and completed the kiss, their tongues intertwining in their mouths, spreading each other's passion with each second they remained there.

John pulled away and heard Tali let out a groan of protest, that is until he let his hand descend and gently started massaging her breast with one hand as he lowered his head and lightly licked her nipple, the taste of her sweet sweat filling his senses. He pleasingly bit down on her nipple, pulling up ever so slightly as his tongue licked and scraped it. He heard her let out moans of pleasure as she crumpled the sheets under her fingers.

"John, please I haven't taken meds for…" Her voice trailed off as Shepard's hand, which had gone from her breast to her thigh began to massage her clitoris, and slowly let his rind and middle finger slide into Tali, as she stiffened from the shock and change then gently began to move them back and forth, curving them ever so slightly to just the right angle until he heard her let out another moan.

Then he began to move with increasing speed, as he slid his body up till their lips intersected and they shared a long deep kiss, parting only when the Machinist neared her climax and the Vanguard began pressing them deeper feeling her pulse under him until finally she let out a cry of intense pleasure as her body began to spasm.

"John, you know I can't just let you do all the work" Tali stuttered as she flipped the Commander on his back kissing him up the length of his chest until she reached his neck, and her hand found her target. She began to gently massage it, with growing speed as she saw John arch his head in growing pleasure. Her hand moved faster now and she leaned in to kiss him as their lips nearly locked however, the commander in a blur of movement had switched positions placing him on top and her on bottom.

"How am I supposed to finish from down here?" she muttered in attempted disappointment, but eagerly awaited what would come next. "Well Tali I guess I will have to settle for this instead." With that he closed the gap between their bodies and felt immense warmth as he entered her and she let her pleasure known as well by the shiver that ran up her spine.

Tali began to rock with Shepard their bodies in perfect synch as he kept pushing deeper and stronger, Shepard holding her close in his arms and their lips locked in kiss while their passion filled the air. Each time he thrust, their ecstasy and pleasure grew until finally they had both given their all, they held each other tight and let sleep take them away.

_April 25__th__, 2186_

A cool-voice ran into Shepard's quarters saying "Shepard there is a high priority message coming in from _TIM_. A message that is _only_ for Shepard, Ms. Vas Normandy." EDI stayed on the stand where she remained until Shepard finally replied in a half awake groan, "EDI I am sure Tali can here the message, now play the damn thing". "Very well Shepard, as you wish". As he crawled out of bed and turned to give Tali a kiss on the cheek. He staggered to the bathroom when the message began… "Shepard this is a top priority message! Communications have come in from earth reporting unknown ships approaching the solar system. From what I have picked up it appears to be the _reapers_! I don't know how the made it in undetected but there is no time, the Earth Defense Force is on emergency mobilization, they need every ship they can get! You wanted a chance now _take_ it!" The room was dead silent. Shepard finally gathered himself. "EDI, you know where we need to go" he said silently. "Yes, commander".

H.G. Wells once said "We must end wars, or wars will end us" He couldn't of been any more wrong. War, war would be our redemption.


	2. Spoils of War

_**Okay Chapter 1, this doesn't really shoot plot forward just explains parts of the war if you are interested.**_

_September 29th, 2190 4 years 5 months later 3 months after the end of the war_

"The news took a few seconds to register, but when it had Shepard kicked the ship into overdrive to get them there. That was the last time in 4 years that John Shepard got any real rest. After the message none of the galaxy would ever be the same. Four years of hell and battle-filled nights loomed ahead of us. Billions stood and fought, but over a _trillion_ died. The galaxy had pulled together, but the galaxy was also devastated. The Terminus Systems were in chaos after the bulk of them hit, tore through the badlands like wild fire. That's where most of the casualties were. The merc bands got wiped out, we thought that like Sovereign, if we just sent in fleets we could overwhelm them. We were wrong. They linked shields and made an impenetrable field around the ships. We tried to take a lesson from history, launching D-Day style invasion ships. Those that made it past the white hot lasers and force fields were almost doomed never to return.

Finally when Captain Kirrahe led a squad of the STG into one and faced impossible odds, they got out with some useful Intel on how to get past the shields. After that we began to draw them out and attack while they were focused. We used doomsday type bombarding to lower the shields enough to get squads aboard and plant charges to cripple them. TIM my old boss thanked me for blowing up the collector base when he saw they were expecting us to keep it. They planned on launching a massive EMP attack on all systems using the technology. It would have sent us back to the dark ages.

But our biggest victories were our biggest losses, victories that would have made King Pyrrhus himself proud. By the time they launched the surprise attack on Earth, the Alliance was gone and the defense force had never seen active combat. They had planned to blow it up, to get humanity for what had happened and what we did to them, but they only managed to destroy the majority of the cluster, and scar the planet plenty. As luck would have it, Cerberus' fleet poured in and destroyed the 7 reapers with the help of the Earth Defense Force and the cost of the majority of the fleet. Who would have thought they had a whole star fleet waiting in the Jungles of the Amazon? On Illium, it was a similar fate. The Asari put up a hell of a fight, but ultimately the planet was all but uninhabitable. On Palaven the outcome was far worse. The Turian home fleet was wiped out in a single swipe. They did not have the advantage of a wider solar system to provide advanced warning. Many would call what they did to the planet as "Organic cleansing"; they created a gas so poisonous to Turians that _all_ of the population died. We had seen this coming since the plague on Omega; the reapers did in fact have race specific bioweapons. Palaven's atmosphere glowed dark green, and remains uninhabitable to this day.

There were fights like this all over the galaxy. Only when they charged the Citadel did we truly get the lead. We had planned for it, placed charges all over, we also burned and corrupted all census data, effectively blinding the reaper forces. Despite this, we put up a valiant fight, as the Citadel was considered by almost everyone as "The capital of the Galaxy". They saw all of this and charged even harder, to capture it and steal our hope. The Reapers reached it in the 3rd year of combat, and activated the relay just as the council evacuated, all but the Turian, who has watched as the Reapers slaughtered his friends and colleagues, had the Alliance Marines not arrived, the rest of the council would be dead, _again_. He saw no better end then to blow the citadel, and as he did he wiped out the largest of the remaining Reaper forces. Leading to the UGF, Rachni, Geth and any other forces that remained to proclaim victory".

As the memorial drew to an end, he went to sit. Shepard looked among the crowd, and the caskets of his crew. Mordin died on the collector base, Samara died saving Grunt from a Reaper berserker and it plunged a blade in her spine, Jack on a raid into a Reaper gone wrong when the squad first encountered their giant looming hulks, Kasumi on the citadel, Thane sacrificed himself for Kolyat in the final push as we stormed Harbinger, and he couldn't even remember some of the others….

When the service was over, Shepard went to his room on the station, no one came to pay their dues, congratulate on him on people he managed to save. No thanks for the work he did, and none of the Normandy crew was there, he had stated that none were to go but him. The war had ended 3 months ago and there was no reason to shed new tears now he had said, lies all of it he knew as wiped the sweat forming on his face off. He walked to the liquor cabinet in his room, looking for a way to escape memories that which haunted him.

The seasoned Vanguard opened up a bottle of bourbon, and sat for what seemed an eternity to him. Remembering the faces of those he sent into the abyss. It racked his thoughts since the end of the war, the memories and with Tali gone to help the Fleet's talks with the Geth about what was to come…he was alone…

Shepard grabbed the bottle and took a swig, then another, and then another, until it was empty and he did the same with all the whiskey he had, pushing his upgraded body's alcohol processing abilities to the limit. He ended up staggering to the bed, falling on it just as he entered a drunken sleep. He was woken by the sound of a hiss and footsteps, he turned to see Tali walking to him. "Tali but... you at the Migrant Fleet… helping them negotiate with the Geth..."

Tali kept approaching as she took off her suit and mask and put her hands on the Commanders chest pushing him back down she whispered, "I am on leave to visit you of course, four years of barely seeing you and I don't plan to lose another month for politics." John laughed, a sad laugh, and held her tight. They lay there, no sound but the breathing until Tali finally said.

"John, is something wro…"

"They _all_ died…" He interrupted, tears emerging from his eyes and walls from his emotions fell "THEY ALL DIED! All because I couldn't handle the pressure! Because I gave a bad order or didn't get good information. Because I didn't prepare the galaxy enough, my people enough they died. _67%_ Tali. 67% of the galaxy died, and among them are my friends. IT IS ALL _MY_ FAULT!" John yelled as tears streamed down his face. Tali merely put her hand on him and let him cry till he slept. It was all she could do at the time. She was expecting this; she had heard the first official casualty estimates while on the fleet.

John awoke in his quarters, sweat covered his body and upon noticing that he and Tali weren't alone in the room his hand quickly darted under the mattress and he felt the Phalanx Pistol in his grip. Shepard spun over on the bed throwing his laser sight on the figure and yelled, "Identify yourself and put your hands up! You're lucky I didn't just shoot you right away."

His eyes opened in surprise and wonder when he saw Kasumi turn around to face Shepard "What's wrong Shepard? Hurry, pick up the pace! The berserkers are coming faster now, hurry Shepard. HURRY!" The Commander looked around and realized he was back on the Citadel in the Zakera Ward, rushing through with Kasumi, Garrus and the council getting them out of there before the Turian blew it all to hell, the Reapers with it.

"Right, Garrus get me that door open, you were with C-Sec and you know the system better than most. Kasumi take position right by the makeshift barricade, and search those bodies for anything useful!" Garrus grunted acknowledgement and set to work, the thief pointed the council to the best hiding spot and John turned just to see 2 Reaper Berserkers charging with 10 Dregs rushing ahead of them. "Garrus we need that door now!" the Vanguard shouted as he launched a _shockwave_ into the group sending the Dregs flying into walls and halting the berserkers for precious seconds. "Hey commander I am trying but you can imagine if they didn't want these doors open with Reapers all around!" Shepard gave Garrus a glare that got the Turian right back to work and turned to see Kasumi throwing one of her _frags_ straight into the eye of berserker, sending it ramming blind into a wall and in perfect spot for Shepard to use the _Energy Drain_ ability Tali had taught him.

The Berserker struggling to stand at first, obvious signs of drain from the attack then spun around to face down Shepard. He looked to Kasumi for help but saw her tied up in dealing with the few Dregs that had manage to catch her, as it ran he used the combination him and Samara had made. He propelled himself forward using _charge_ and threw a punch straight into the Berserker core, filling it with _Reave_. As it fell he turned and saw Garrus still busy opening the door, "Status Garrus! We could really use some concussive blasts and armor piercing rounds here!" Garrus getting annoyed as he had to constantly adjust to avoid fire as is turned eyes lit up saying, "Well shit commander, are you a tech specialist NO! So shut your damn mouth unless you have a genius method of opening the damn door!" After sending a group of 3 Dregs up with a _pull field_ and then shooting each in the head with his Eviscerator and throwing up his recently perfected_ Barrier _to cope with the smash of the Berserker ramming him into a wall, he was about to _Throw_ the monstrous machine as it pulled its blade back but a swift stab through its main power core and an _overload_ from Garrus had it toppling over.

"Thanks for finally helping Garrus," Shepard groaned quickly moving from the position of being pinned. "Now step aside and let me get that open the express way." The Vanguard backed up and then let out a yell as he _Charged_ straight at the door blowing it open and sending the sides through the other door down the hall straight to the cabs. "Well Shepard thanks for making me work that hard when you could just bust them down, remind me to NOT take a bullet for you next time we are facing a couple ravagers." Garrus mocked while pointing at the wounds his armor still boasted from his multiple injuries.

"Yeah yeah Garrus later, now everyone through the door before more of them get here. I want Garrus, the Asari and the Salarian council members in the front. Me and Kasumi will take Anderson in the rear, if we get swarmed just fly fast as hell, don't need all the council dying here now MOVE!" John yelled as they ran down the hall, explosions and screaming ringing through the station, he knew they didn't have much time. The Turian made it clear when the reapers were right in front of him he was blowing it all to hell, and he wasn't dying here not while Tali waited for him on the SSV _Final Glory_ the Alliance's brand new cruiser equipped with enough power and shields to actually last a full hour against a Reapers blast, technology no one thought possible till it was tested in action.

As Shepard and Kasumi piled Anderson in the back she let her concern known to everyone "look Shepard, I know we are in a rush but the Reaper's have birds all over Citadel air, they will see us in seconds and these aren't exactly personal carriers loaded with shields and guns". Annoyed and in a rush Shepard just growled back "Kasumi if you have a better plan for getting to the Normandy before this entire damn station blows I would _love _to hear it, but if you don't then get your ass in the shuttle!" After a troubled glance she got in and they took off immediately after Garrus. Just as they neared the docking bay however, a berserker smashed onto of the shuttle and punched through the glass clutching Kasumi it pulled her up and clenched its hand and as she was crushed and blood squirted out through holes her bones made with each time it tightened its monstrous grip.

The Vanguard in a rage gave Anderson the wheel with a quick nod and then used _Charge_ to send him, Kasumi and the Berserker hurtling towards the ground 15 feet away. Luckily, his kinetic barriers and the remaining energy from his _charge_ as a cushion the fall at a speed of 60 mph did little to weaken him, as he turned to face down the Berserker he saw it get up with a hole in its just the size of Shepard's shoulder. It turned to face him and lunged just as he threw a _shockwave_ hurtling the massive beast to the side. Grabbing his Eviscerator he ran up to the monstrosity as it got back to its feet and with Garrus' armor piercing rounds loaded, kicked it over –biotics loaded into the blow- and placed the barrel right under its chest plate at the aimed at the core. "DIE YOU MOTHER FUCKING MACHINE!" Shepard yelled at the heap of metal before turning to and running to Kasumi. When he reached Kasumi he pulled her up, blood poured from tears and rips all over, her left leg gone and several holes filled her torso from the giant blades that Berserkers sported. Upon seeing Shepard she turned to him, revealing her mutilated head, skin ripped from the crash, "Shepard… it hurts so much, I thought you promised we were going to get out of the shuttle just fine." She muttered as blood came up with every other word. Before Shepard could say anything she had stopped breathing and her eyes had rolled back into her head.

Shepard got up, not a single tear flowing down his face and turned to see Anderson signaling for him to hurry. As Shepard began to move towards it however something grabbed his leg, he turned to see Kasumi holding on to it, standing up half Dreg she tackled him shouting, "Now Shepard you don't have to save the rest of them. You can just join the ones you already failed!

John sat up, sweat covering his body his breathing hard and heard beating like a drum. He looked around the room, and saw Tali laying in bed right next to him. It had been dream no another nightmare, third one this week but more vivid then the others. He had been back there this time, felt the air burning and Kasumi's blood cover him as she died…

Tali stared at her love, as he panted and looked around the room panicked. She put her hand on his back, slowly moved it up to his shoulder and pulled herself up, so that she was right in front of him and then turned his face to hers. As Tali looked into John's eyes she saw the terror and guilt, the anger and fear that plagued him. She closed her arms around him and moved his around her and guided him back down. He resisted a little but when she kissed him and her tongue brushed his and she parted just long enough to tell him that she loved him. Before pecking his cheek and telling him it was all okay and that she would always be there until his breathing calmed and he fell back asleep in her arms.

The Machinist just stayed awake however, as she stared at him. She was worried about him Miranda had told her he wasn't doing well. That after all the fighting stopped and he didn't have to keep focused on the next assignment he was faced with the realities of everything that had happened. When he realized exactly how many had died, how many friends he watched bleed out and just moved on. The guilt and grief he felt was ruining him and only when he had a gun, bottle or Tali in his hands was he really calm.

She wondered what she could do, but everything was just a blank to her. No genius plan to help fix him like a broken part on a ship.

As Tali lay there holding John his mind was at peace and for once he dreamed of a better time when he and Tali where they first admitted they loved each other. But as Tali fell asleep, her mind was busy worrying about the commander. And how she was going to rebuild Shepard; the savior of the Galaxy, her love. The galaxy would need the seasoned leader now more than ever. Rebuilding was right under their feet.

_**And there you have it, the Prologue was just to establish romance and show that Shepard and the Illusive Man were cool. Also wanted to get the first romance scene out of way in Prologue, as those are AWKWARD to type for me. This Chapter was just my way of setting up setting for the galaxy and I will explain more intimate details of what happened to people as the story goes also if you have any input on something I should do I am glad to hear it, feedback helps the writing after all. So I hope you all enjoyed it and Chapter 2 will be up soon enough.**_


	3. New Dawn

"Welcome back Shepard, I hope your trip aboard the UGF Stool's Crossing was pleasurable." EDI said, her cool voice the same as always. "It was a memorial for all the people that died, EDI. The entire station's filled to the brim with caskets, the majority of them empty. So no EDI, it wasn't enjoyable, sorry." John knew he didn't have to be so offensive but the subject of his failure to save lives was touchy to say the least. EDI took a whole 3 seconds, an eternity for someone as smart as her to reply with, "My apologies commander, I meant no offense if you were offended by my words, is there anything I can do for you?" "No thanks EDI. I trust Cerberus wouldn't want to go through remodeling the SR3, I am sure rebuilding her and upgrading her armaments would have been pricy enough."

"I'm sorry the exact cost was never uploaded, but I am sure that from speculation of previous efforts it was several tens of billions." Laughing at how even after all these years she didn't get rhetorical questions he decided that there was nothing left to say except; "Goodbye EDI, wake up Joker. I want to leave here as soon as possible." "Of course commander, logging you out," She replied with her standard voice. As her blue head vanished from the console Shepard started to look around, seeing as all his bags were upstairs in his cabin he had plenty of time to let his mind wander.

John started walking through the CIC, he recognized some people like Hadley, but there were still plenty of new faces, he knew that most arrived from being reassigned, but they didn't build the SR3 just for fun. Shepard was still amazed of how much they worked to keep it like the SR2, maybe a different color here or there. The layout was designed to double research space, and modified the briefing room. The biggest surprise was that instead of a new shackled AI, the cost effective move they had transferred EDI from the battered Normandy. It made sense in the end, EDI had a very small chance of going rogue and killing them all, new AI and new risk happens.

As he activated the galaxy map he turned to his right expecting to hear Kelly say, "No new messages for you commander." Of course Kelly killed herself 2 years ago; no one blamed her after being experimented on. She got more distant as the days went on. No one had really been surprised to open the door to her room at the hospital and find her head split open. Another one sent to the Grim Reaper.

As he opened the science lab, he hoped to avoid the painful nostalgia of being ambushed by the veteran infiltrator, Allin Knight. They met on the very first day of the war. On Earth he joined the crew with no second thoughts, a true "soldier" willing to do anything to save the galaxy ironic as he was a freelancer till Reapers hit. He was what the crew considered a tank due to his many combat abilities. He had enough force to crush a skull in, splatter brains from 600 meters, and one hell of a tech system he called "Daddy's little reapers."

When Shepard entered the room however, all he saw was vast emptiness, a clear desk and a note saying, "Hey John, down in starboard observation, settling in now. Samara may be gone but hey, still need a place to live. Stop by sometime if you want". As Shepard read the note he was pleasantly surprised. After Samara died, Allin didn't go near the Observation room, he moved into the Crew Quarters and bunkered down there. He was a great soldier yes, but getting to be his friend was something few had accomplished. Most of the time he just shot a glare or ignored you, then got back to what he was doing. Only people John knew that Knight liked were himself, Garrus, Zaeed, Tali and Samara. After Samara died he took it the hardest, felt he had failed her by not spotting the crack in her armor sooner.

Before heading out, John stopped to look at the room once more. The room looked just the one of the 2nd Normandy that Mordin called home; the research station even used the format Mordin had made. Of Course Mordin hadn't even been here a year, still they had been friends though he had lost plenty of friends. After taking Knight's note from the table he walked down the hall into the armory. This room however had undergone a complete change. Cerberus took out almost all the tables leaving just two, taken the one weapon locker and made it 10, enough for the whole crew and then some. There was noticeably less room for the weapons officer to work, which Shepard was sure, would have Jacob bitching for days. Upon his entry Shepard noticed that there were predator pistols and M-32 Scimitar assault shotguns all over the floor. He found Jacob on the floor flinging guns around and yelling about some damn designers having no care for their weapons.

"Jacob! Is there a reason you have made my armory look like a four year olds bedroom." Shepard yelled at him, knowing full well it was stricter than he had to be. Jacob, in his rush to see what was happening, and to cover up some of the mess stammered, "Oh! Shepard sir, um... I was just trying to get stock of the guns and um organize them into a uh new um… SYSTEM! So that if we have people going for a certain gun they can just go for a specific locker and uh not get confused!" Jacob shouted the end as if he had proven victorious in avoiding a lecture from Miranda. But when he realized that during his speech he had knocked over even more weapon lockers, he just turned back and said, "Or I am just trying to find some closure in what they did to my sanctuary Commander, and have made a huge ass mess of this fine ship".

The Commander just laughed and pat Jacob on the back, until finally he managed to say "Jacob, if after all these years you think I am going to get dog you about trying to fix your work environment, then I really need to work on my people skills". Jacob just grabbed the commander's hand and shook it laughing himself saying "Well John, as long as we don't get another new crew member I think we can keep hiding how much of an awkward ass you are inside!" "Oh really? I am the awkward one here huh, who was it that when the consort hinted at sex ran out saying "Shepard we have to go remember! Big meeting with council to go to!" Shepard mocked him, pretending that he wasn't still a husk he at least wanted to keep up morale. They had all seen enough death, no need to remind them of it by openly crying he kept telling himself. "Ah alright, you win this round, I got to get back to work if I want to finish by dinner time. See you later Shepard". And with that Jacob sat back down started muttering about some "jack-ass engineer" with no right messing up his armory.

The commander was painfully frozen. Having had enough of the dreaded clutter, the veteran Commander decided to head down to the crew deck. He headed out through the armory's lock and took a right. Again, unfamiliar faces greeted him; all he could do was look away.

The elevator was nearly doubled in size. I t was hard to believe it needed to be any larger, but with the heavy machinery needed for the new ship, it was far from optional. The commander stepped inside and quickly hit the button for deck three, the crew deck. The ride down was nearly as painful as his lone stand in the research lab. He felt as if he was suffering from agoraphobia. Ever since the war's end he had felt the dire need to be around either his friends, on the battlefield or with a drink in his hand. For him, silence was worse than death.

The elevator door opened just as the commander felt a bead of sweat form at his neck. With a sense of urgency he hastily walked out of the elevator. He saw the crew's head cook, Cpl. Thomas Miller, hastily preparing a meal for the mass of ship mates gathered at the tables. This took him back; all he could think about was Gardner and his always upbeat attitude. It was a shame that not even a personality like his could defy a hull breach.

He decided to stay for a quick meal, as the pain in his stomach felt like a parasite, eating its way out of his stomach. Even though the food did not help, he left with a pseudo-smile and a half-hearted compliment to the rookie cook.

Back behind the elevator lay the now empty life support, and port side observation rooms. Harsh memories flooded the Commander's brain. Two lives gone, although the mood was so thick he felt as if he could reach out and talk to them.

With his rounds on deck three complete he decided to take a stop by Miranda's room. Things had been awkward between them ever since Tali and Shepard's relationship went public. He always knew she had a thing for him, but he could never tolerate her polarized moods and oppressive behavior in a relationship, although he would never tell her to her face. He took a deep breath and opened her door. She was at her desk as usual, although he could see she was not browsing work related material. After a few seconds of pure silence he finally decided to speak, "Hey Miranda, I was just stopping by to check in, we haven't heard much from you in the recent days, how have you been?" "I can't honestly tell you, Commander. Ever since the war ended I have felt lost. Like, I have no purpose left, in Cerberus or in the UGF." She responded in a calm voice. "Well you are right; we will eventually have to settle back into our "normal" lives. That might be even worse than _The_ War itself. But as for now, we must oversee the reconstruction" He replied.

"I was thinking, I never got the chance to ask you why you stuck around after the Collector base. I know you were thinking of leaving after we pissed The Illusive Man off, but what _really_ made you stay" he had a feeling he already knew the answer. "Well Commander, in all honesty, it was you. I had never seen such a dedicated leader. After the collector base I knew you would lead us to victory, at any cost. I couldn't refuse to take part in that" the reply came in a very low, almost sensual tone. The Commander felt, for only a second, a bit uncomfortable, a mighty feat. He decided it was time to go.

As he left Miranda's office he remembered a moment a month before the Collector base attack, before him and Tali were "involved". When Miranda had nearly taken Tali's place, if he had not been afraid of what could come from him and her she would be her waiting for him to get back safe. But now wasn't the time to have thoughts of that, he loved Tali. He knew, however with the way everything was going, he didn't have the time to think of what could have been.

Shepard shook the thoughts from his head as he staggered through the mess area, some crewmen said something to him, but all he heard was gibberish. His head felt like it was spinning. He walked right on by into the med bay. As the doors parted and Dr. Minotaud, the new doctor of the Normady appeared. He had been serving for the past year ever since Chakwas found herself facing down a group of Dregs. "Oh! Hello Commander, I didn't expect any visitors until the morning when half the crew is going to come in with a hangover and vomiting from drinking all night", Dr. Minotaud almost shouted it while trying to recover from the shock of a visitor, he picked up his book, maintained eye contact and kicked away a datapad with what looked like porn on it. He barely managed to not fall on his ass.

"At ease Dr. Minotaud, I just came by for something to take care of this headache I keep getting and some back pain I have". John struggled to say this without laughing as the doctor tripped over his chair, quite odd to see him this clumsy seeing as he was typically a very dignified doctor who just happened to be a comedian on the side. "Of course Commander I can do that, and come on. I have been telling you for months now to call me Leonard, Dr. Minotaud sounds oh so degrading", "Maybe after I am not fighting off a collapsing in pain from this headache and back pain Dr. Minotaud, until then I don't see this changing". Shepard said the last part throwing a fake grin; keep up the façade he kept thinking. Leonard retrieved the medicine and Shepard felt immensely better. After saying his thanks to the doctor he left the medbay and decided to look around the deck and all the changes it had received.

The Commander walked to the elevator and looked around, he noticed the new exercise and training room that Cerberus had placed in the new Normandy. He never had understood why on a military ship, there was no place to stay in shape besides doing small workouts in the quarters. Shepard started walking towards the room to examine it, but as he neared he heard the sounds of someone fighting. Opening the door to see what was going on, he saw Allin beating the hell out of some combat bots, and from the way they were moving he guessed this was the highest level. The room was a mess at the moment, bot parts everywhere and exercise equipment all over the floor, he wondered who cleaned it up until he noticed the tiny drones flying down and retrieving the bot parts during the break. Before Shepard saw more Knight began to turn around, and John leaned back out of the room, not wanting to see him yet. Neither really wanted too, not yet… not while they were sober enough to remember.

Nearly running John darted past Cpl. Miller as he shouted something about personal food for him, nodding Shepard kept going straight past the pods into the Main batteries. As he looked around he noticed the room felt empty without Garrus here, John knew that they were going to get him once he finished training some new Spectre recruits. Shepard always laughed at how he managed to save the galaxy, and they refused to give him Spectre again thanks to Cerberus and him. So rather than give Garrus his own like he earned they stuck him with Shepard's, Garrus had told them to shove it, that he would train some but Shepard was his only boss.

After finishing reminiscing John looked around at the Normandy's new guns. Granted that the SR2 gotten most of these but those were patch jobs for when it was always running in and out, until in the final fight it finally blew its Mass Effect core, still made for one hell of a show when Joker unloaded "Mjollnir" and blew the core and Harbinger into so many pieces Council is still trying to find them.

One thing Shepard had not noticed while exploring the deck was that the new Main Guns operator Sgt. Katherine Mahoney, had snuck right up to him, and was fighting all her might to grab him from behind. Sgt. Mahoney had harbored a crush for Commander Shepard since the Blitz, him coming back from dead and saving galaxy didn't help her getting over it. And now she finally had a chance but couldn't do it, which was for best as no one had told her that the Commander loved the Quarian engineer on board, and that if anyone tried anything she would kill them in a jealous fury.

Finally she managed to mumble out "Hi Commander Shepard sir, can I help you?" The Commander jumped back in surprise and fear and flipped the Sgt. Over his back into the ground used his hand to hold her down. But his hand had fallen on her breast and while he didn't notice she thought Shepard had known she was there and wanted her as well…

As John held her down trying to process all that was happening, he felt the attackers hands slowly raise up his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" he yelled aggressively, his mind still sorting out all of this mess. "Me? Shepard... John, I am just doing what I can tell you want". With that she shot forward grabbing his face and locking her lips onto his. Shepard threw her back and jumped up, realizing that this was his new Battery Operator, and that when she surprised him he had grabbed her chest, began to apologize.

Suddenly she flung forward screaming "Take me John now! I have wanted you for years!" as she ripped off her top showing her quite nicely shaped breasts and body. John knew he had to get out of there and also keep her from pursuing intimacy stated, "No Sgt. WAIT! I made a mistake, I didn't realize that you were friendly, I was lost in thoughts of battle and..." He didn't get time to finish as she grabbed him and tried to kiss him again. Feeling guilty and like he was cheating, the Commander ducked out and tried to calm her down. However, everything he said had no effect as her lust for the hero grew. Finally Shepard pushed her back and slapped her straight across; this had the desired effect as she fell into the floor, the sight of her chest scraping the ground sent ripples of pain up his back.

Katherine opened her eyes, grasping what she had just done pulled up her top and turned to face her superior, only to see him darting out of the room to the elevator. She put her head in her hands and said to herself, "Smooth Katherine. You just sexually assaulted your superior officer and hero like a crazed stalker. Nice first impression."

The Commander walked straight to elevator, ignoring everyone and everything around him. Wanting to go see Tali and apologize for everything. But he didn't go up; instead he went to Engineering, thinking it best to think of how to tell Tali about the encounter with Mahoney. Upon entering Deck 4 however, he was greeted by a whole new layout, the cargo hold had been given 5 MK-III Hammerheads each carrying Cerberus' new shield generator, making their shields four times more durable than the original prototype. The two smaller cargo holds were similar but with more space. Shepard still wondered how they kept the Normandy the exact same size and added all this interior space, hopefully they didn't sacrifice armor and hull strength. He walked into the engine core glancing at the stairs to the underdeck where Jack had lived during her stay.

When the final doors parted the first thing Shepard heard were Ken and Gabby arguing about how to calibrate the shield generator so that the core wouldn't lose more power or something. Of course when they saw Shepard they stood at attention and stated their greetings waiting for him to release them from it. "At ease you two, why do you still do that? I would hope five years is long enough to be at least friends", the Commander joked as he shook their hands. "Of course we are Shepard, just ya know, bit of habit and all that", "Oh stuff it Kenneth, the Commander didn't care about your ass kissing all those years ago, I doubt he would now". Gabby and Kenneth, it was well known they had been involved, if they were dating and just hid it or only "friends with benefits" no one knew which, but the entire crew knew they still shared quarters in Engineering, and it had gotten soundproofed for a reason.

"Gabby I swear one of these days I am gonna get you back for all the bitching you do woman!" Ken muttered to her and lightly jabbed his elbow into her side, "Kenneth if the commander wasn't here the things I would do to you right now", Gabby said, the Commander was sure that she didn't mean violence. Feeling if he didn't interject he would be even more troubled tonight he blurted out, "I just came by to examine the new layout and clear my head, so I think I will be going. Oh, and tell Engineer Reeza I regret not being able to meet her.

After that Shepard wiped his forehead, noticing it covered in sweat, he set course for his cabin, and to see his love Tali.

As John reached the Captain's quarters he looked back on how to explain everything to Tali, or if he should at all. He could just avoid mentioning his meeting with Mahoney; he could just not mention his headaches and back pain, he didn't want to feel guilt for ruining everyone's mood with his issues. Would she discover what happened and think him not bringing it up as a way of keeping a secret?

John opened the doors to his cabin and was greeted by a beautiful woman swinging her arms around his neck, and two glowing white eyes staring into his, and a giant smile on her purple face. Her two cuspids looked as cute and threatening as ever. "Hello sir, is there anything I can do for you?" Tali said teasingly rubbing her finger alone the length of his face, "Well Ms. vas Normandy, maybe you could bring that gorgeous face of yours a bit closer, this draft is killing me". With that Tali and Shepard locked in a kiss, their tongues teasing each other as their hands went the length of each other's back.

After their lips parted Tali showed her disappointment with a sigh, John let his hands fall and gave Tali a quick peck on the cheek. Looking around the room he saw that Tali had already unpacked her belongings. Shepard couldn't help but notice how dimly lit his cabin was, a near testimate to his personality. The only light was that of the fish tanks, taking up the whole left wall, as it has within the SR2, only extended out numerous yards, as the ship had increased its interior size. He could have turned on the lights, but he decided with his busy day he should try to get a bit of sleep, maybe it was a side effect of the medicine the Doctor gave him, or maybe the constant physical stress was finally catching up with him.

Walking into the bathroom he instinctively checked his chest. It was a habit that had taken to the Commander and it refused to let go, no matter how hard he tried, leftover memories of an issue so deep almost none of the crew knew what it was. It was beside the point, it wasn't happening anymore. With his habit relieved he moved onto shaving and brushing his teeth.

Tali had already moved into the bed and was nearly asleep herself when Shepard came out of the bathroom. This was the first time he could really take time to explore the cabin. The same fish tanks, armor center, study area, all the same. On his "Trophy" shelf laid the Prothean sphere, his Alliance dog tags and helmet, and on the center piece, his pride and joy, one of Harbinger's central processing units, ripped from it as they stormed, planting charges and stealing data to take back for research. Beside the CPU was Kasumi's Locust SMG, taken from the hands of her chilled body, a Ravager head; pried off of one that had jumped him and Garrus, and lastly the only thing he ever kept from the Alliance, his Medal of Salvation, their way of patting him on the back for all he did in the Blitz. The model of the SR3 had been added to the model ship collection, it always took him by surprise how fast they released the models.

He felt a subtle hint of selfishness when he looked at Tali. All she had brought onboard the ship from _five _years back was her father's helmet. She had always kept it in mint condition, it had never received a scratch on it, something about him always watching over and guiding the crew to victory. Not so different from other religious traditions the humans took to heart, but still it always made him sad whenever he thought about it, he couldn't have arrived on the Alarei faster, he couldn't have prevented it, or so he thought. He was always happy though to see Tali had at least some memento to remember her father by, unlike himself. He never told anyone, but he could barely remember his Father's, or Mother's appearance, perhaps it was events like those that had turned him into the man he was today. Perhaps it was done for a reason.

Before Shepard knew it, he had been standing in one position for five minutes lost in his thoughts, and he may have remained there longer had Tali not called him to bed. She knew what was happening, she had grown to understand his conditions, all that had happened to him. Instead of their issues affecting one another though, it only drew them closer together; someone always had another person to talk to.

While Shepard lay in bed, he couldn't help but gaze into the empty abyss of space. It had always been a mystery to him how a Galaxy so big could be brought to its knees tens, perhaps hundreds of times by a small fleet of ships. How ten thousand could stand up to trillions. If it was done by organics it would be a tale of legendary heroism, bigger then King Leonidas at the pass of Thermopylae. This however, this was a story of pure hell; a slaughter house, where the butchers had no hearts, and no remorse, butchering for a reason they took to their graves.

He felt small pangs rack his mind, as if they were coming from something. He turned his head but saw nothing, his eyes did however settle on the CPU piece of Harbinger. He recognized this feeling, he had felt it when he was brought back to life, whenever he heard Harbinger speak, when he saw a Reaper creature get "controlled" directly by them, when he had stormed Harbinger and every since the war ended and his thoughts drifted. As he stared at the unit he thought for a second if it was talking to him. He chocked it up to a lack of sleep, but it didn't look away. Shepard thought of that final battle, of storming Harbinger and watching hundreds of soldiers fall while they pushed farther in.

The Commander's mind suddenly filled with pain, memories of the fight flowed back. When he lead Allin, Zaeed, Tali, Legion, Thane and Kolyat through on a black ops mission to recover any useful info and plant a charge in Harbinger's power core, it would ensure if the attack failed they still had a failsafe, it would have enough power to destroy any ship, Reaper or Alliance within 1000 kilometers.

He felt the adrenaline of the fight, the pain of when Thane was shot down, the triumph of killing a behemoth by himself in hand to hand combat. The grief flow into him when a Skulker flung Tali into a wall and shot her point blank, tearing her suit open. Finally, the conquest of planting the charges and the feeling of superiority when he pried out one of its CPUs.

Suddenly it all dispersed, his body was covered in sweat and he realized that he had his knife in his hand, and its target was Tali. John threw it aside and blocked out the action as a result of the vivid flashback, this was not the first time he had done something like this.

Again the Commander's mind was wandering into the endless abyss of space, the space of his mind. He managed to pull himself back again however, into another restless night's sleep.

Tali opened her eyes, and immediately felt like crap. The lack of her love holding her tightly in his arms like when they had fallen asleep was a missed joy. She sat up and looked around, open liquor cabinet, trashcan full with bottles of scotch, alarm already disabled and shower running. Tali got out of bed, the chill of the room sending Goosebumps up her spine; quickly she grabbed her nightgown and walked to the desk beginning to clean up the mess he had left from drinking. It saddened her still, even with her there, to him it seemed the bottle was easier to get, but she knew she could fix it. If Tali couldn't then her and Shepard wouldn't still be together.

Deciding she should bathe before putting on her suit and going about business she took of her gown and draped it over the chair, while she did so however Tali spotted something from the corner of her eye. On the desk sat the new K-Bar 2190 or "The Butcher", named for the fact that no matter how it cut or stabbed you it would end up ripping you apart. She put her hand on her head and started laughing harder than she thought she ever would. How fitting that the man she loved had about as much romantic creativity for buying their anniversary present as he did with what he wore daily. Of course it had been a knife, while a very nice one, she wouldn't expect anything that wasn't combat useful, and to her that was fine. It told her that to John, her survival was more important than any fancy gift.

When Tali opened the bathroom door she was greeted by Shepard standing there facing her, his pupils wide and his chest glowed with faint cracks in it, new scars, or just old ones? The implants only occasionally showed through. As she stepped towards him however, his eyes readjusted and looked at her and for a brief second she swore someone else looked through his eyes. "Oh Tali, sorry I didn't notice you come it, but it's a very welcome pleasure." John said as he stepped forward, his hand reaching around her hip, "Well, I could tell you were lost in thought, for your sake I hope it was about a new anniversary present, unless that knife you had laying on the table was really mine." John suddenly tensed then chuckled saying, "It's no problem, I had another idea anyway, and since we are in the shower… it will be a lot easier to clean up now won't it." "Well then, you better get to work on it love."

"So honey, do you have any other surprises for me today?" Tali said as she sealed her suit and gave Shepard a kiss before sealing her mask. "I don't know do you count getting to spend the rest of it planning out a training schedule for the colony a surprise?" "Not when you tell me of course, although I am sure you have a better surprise than that." "Nothing except saying I love you, but hopefully that isn't a surprise".

After they had finished preparing Shepard and Tali, hand in hand descended to the briefing room, where Knight, Miranda and Jacob stood waiting. Just by looking at their faces you could tell it had been an awkward wait, Jacob and Miranda were friends again, but Knight and Miranda had a falling out of their friendship, one that clearly still lingered.

"Hello Shepard, glad you could join us for the meeting you wanted", Miranda said with blatant sarcasm. "I hope now we can discuss our goals for this operation." The Commander approached the table; EDI had projected the layout of the solar system they were in. "Okay, our current mission is really just a PR one, try to tell everyone that we are going to make sure they are set for rebuilding. The Council has requested that we visit a multispecies colony in the Eagle Nebula. As you all know the Eagle Nebula was severely damaged in the war, most of its systems were charred and Dregs still decay on a few of them. The planet we are visiting was heavily bombarded, and most of the cities are in ruins. Luckily, it didn't suffer extreme gas attacks so the atmosphere has been cleansed. We are to go and spend three weeks; four if we deem it necessary to have them trained, obviously with new growth comes new gangs and merc bands trying to take over. We will train the new militia in guerilla warfare, and how to fend off raider attacks." After he finished John signaled for EDI to close the schematics

"Well Shepard we all know that much, but what's our plan afterwards? I mean we have the entire galaxy to rebuild and it isn't going to be a quick fix." Jacob put it bluntly, asking the question all of them, even John himself wondered.

"Well first off, once we are done at the colony there are some old members of the crew who are coming back, so we have to get them. Garrus is at the provisional Council base on Bekenstein, so we will fly by there and pick him up. Zaeed has made arrangements to meet us there; once we have them The Illusive Man said that he had some intel he would forward to my private computer. So I will go through it, whatever it is that's going to be our mission after we have everyone on board. Also Legion sent forward some schematics for a new RX Pulsar 34 Pistol, that's in the Armory so Jacob can set them up." "Will do Commander, they look like they pack as much punch as the Ravager guns did themselves." Jacob responded with slight enthusiasm.

Knight got up and moved to the table then asked frankly, "Shepard that is all great, but why would you call this briefing on all the crap we have to do _months_ away?" The Vanguard felt his hands roll up and was shocked by how much rage he felt. Tali had already stepped forward however and quickly responded with, "The Commander wouldn't call us all here just to waste time, so maybe you should sit down and wait for him to finish before you go criticizing everything he does Allin!" Knight turned to face her, his eye whirred in its place and opened up revealing a deep red glow, while he himself merely shrugged his shoulders and sat down.

John decided that maybe he should move on now, "Before anyone else starts shouting this early in the well, artificial day, Allin is correct. I did call this briefing to deal with some issues I noticed on our current assignment. John opened up the file he had made and began the briefing, he felt a certain sense of comfort in knowing that he may be in battle again and was glad to at least be relaxed for once.

It was another boring day so far on the colony; at least this one had a possibility of being exciting. All the colonists were expecting Commander Shepard and his crew, the team that saved the galaxy to arrive and spend almost a month training them to fend off raiders.

Mixeni had just finished repairing the southern generator for the fifth time this month, covered in sweat and with grease all over her head, instead of resembling its normal teal complexion it looked like she dyed it brown. The scolding her father would give her, "A Turian is supposed to look their best and always be ready for an inspection", he would say that whenever she was slacking off. All the memories of her father had never been pleasant. Still it annoyed her how her mother kept saying she was too young to learn to shoot, that she had an entire millennia to learn how to kill people and now she should just learn. "Hey Mixy, what you doing all the way down here?" Mixeni shot up shocked by the sudden appearance of another person, she turned to see that it was none other than Kenny Higan, the only other male human on the colony besides Tanner that wasn't under the age of 20. "Well Kenny, I was just fixing up this piece of shit generator. Now I plan to go sneak past my mother and wait for our guests of honor. Who knows, maybe Shepard has a thing for Asari", the thought of being able to brag to all the other people here that she got to meld with Commander Shepard was very enticing, Kenny however was not exactly thrilled to hear that, the look on his face gave it away. She was well aware that Kenny had a crush on her, and she did like him to, just not in the sexual way he did. "Well come on, I doubt he has time for that, a 90 year old Asari in the middle of a crap colony? He is the biggest guy on the galaxy, why I bet woman are lining up by the thousands just to see him!" Kenny said trying to make it sound like he was a better option for her to meld with, Mixeni just got up and slapped him then walked away, hands on her hips saying, "Yeah Kenny, that's the way to woo a girl by saying she is nothing special."

The Normandy landed with almost no noise at all; Cerberus really had gone all out on perfecting it. Shepard finished sealing his armor and made sure he had his Carnifex Heavy Pistol and Eviscerator strapped on. As the airlock opened he dismounted with Tali, Miranda, Jacob and Allin. He had to fight the extreme urge of placing the barrel of his pistol to the head of a Batarian who approached him. The creature had an assault rifle in hand and walked in a pack of five, security most likely but to Shepard, they were all the same. "Ah Commander Shepard it is a pleasure to meet you, I'm Security Chief Kremen, and welcome to the colony Linnoitus, we have gathered all the colonists who are going to train under you and your men in the conference building, if you will just follow me." Shepard felt Tali's hand wrap around his as they walked down through the colony, it was a very nice colony given the terrain left from the Reaper's genocide. They had been able to grow grass, _real grass_! Something very few worlds now could. They had a fair number of houses built instead of the mobile bunkers most colonies used. There were quite a few people who started running towards the group until disapproving look from either their parents or Kremen had them stop in their tracks. Shepard bottled up his anger which he still wondered why it was so intense… and walked into the building and felt a bit of sadness when Tali let go and walked over with Knight to the other side of the group.

"My name is Commander John Shepard, for the next three to four weeks me and my troops will be here training you for various combat situations as well as how to handle the weapons you have present. You are not to call me John, it is Commander Shepard at all times, you will follow all my orders, or you will be in a very bad situation until I leave. If any of you try to take any of my weapons or board my ship without an escort I will space you myself. While this colony appears safe, you will have to kill someone at some point, as mercs try to make a name for themselves and gangs try to leech off of a successful colony. That is why I am here to train you so you don't end up dead in some sewer with you face in someone's shit, now I want all of you to report here at 1500 hours, or 3:00 for all of you who don't know time on a twenty four hour clock, until then you are dismissed." After he finished almost no one moved, some turned awkwardly to timid to go talk to him, some terrified it was a test to see who wanted to get out of there. He heard Jacob laughing about how much Shepard had come off like a hard ass with Miranda. Tali and Allin were both standing at the back holding their hands over their mouths trying not to laugh, guess they really wanted to back up his serious strict leader bluff. The crowd started to slowly disperse and many people glanced and then walked away, Shepard saw a group of about six standing in the back talking.

Finally an Asari came running out of the group straight up to him; her skin was teal, a rarity among Asari. He Asari, most likely her mother say "Mixeni!" with a harsh tone, the Asari merely rolled her eyes and stood right in front of Shepard. "Hello Commander Shepard", Mixeni said flirtingly and put her hand on his chest, "Why are you so tense? Do you maybe need some help relieving some stress?" Shepard was shocked by the blunt proposal and by how she gradually moved her hand down. Allin started laughing with Jacob as loud as they could and Miranda shot a glare at the girl. Shepard moved his hand to stop hers and managed to say, "Stop that!" before Tali got to her, pushed her back so she faced her, and with her right hand sent a blow that toppled the Asari over onto her back. "Before you ever try something like that again let me say this, that man there is mine, and if you try to change that I promise you will learn how good I am with this gun". John was stunned by how much of his direct, blunt, forceful nature had rubbed off on the typically shy Quarian. "Tali, I really don't think punching her was necessary. Watching Shepard try to stop her with you right there could have been just as fun", "I don't think so Jacob, seeing Tali hit her right on the cheek with such force she spun over was priceless".

The Asari scrambled over to her laughing friends and John just started rubbing his temples. This was going to be a very long month.

_**And that is Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long, As me and my partner did this we kept hitting blocks and getting delayed, also I am aware it is over twice as long as Chapter 1. That's because I am looking for my nice groove to write and while this was tedious I did get to explain more on some things and others I had to drop for the sake of space. I like the 8,000 word range maybe a bit more or less. Anyways please R&R, let me know which length you like and how I am doing so far. Lastly there is one thing I didn't put in here that I want to solely because I wanted to ask all of you. Throughout the story I will mention Reaper devices and creatures like I have as well as new factions, weapons, mercs, gangs, people etc… I have some codex entries for these things already done in my head, but don't want to just type it for no one to read it. So let me know if you would like me to type them or if the piecing it together as it goes is more fun for you.**_


End file.
